The present invention relates to card games and more particularly to bridge. The invention is an improved card table mounted, portable, combination food, beverage, bidding box and convention card holding apparatus.
Folding tables for playing cards and other games are sized and configured to seat a number of persons around the table and include a smooth planar playing area accessible by each of the players. Such tables generally have four legs which are positionable between a stowage position and an open playing position. Typical card tables include a slotted brace member and a pivotable strut member for supporting each leg in the open position.
Because card games are often of fairly long duration, players often consume food and beverages, or smoke cigarettes, while playing. Because the table playing surface area is limited, placement of consumables on the table can result in spillage or other damage to the cards or other game accouterments and the table.
Bridge is a partnership game, and there are two players to each partnership. Players are each given a name--North, South, East and West. These names are similar to points on the compass, in the sense that North sits opposite South, and East sits opposite West. North and South are a partnership, as are East and West. Prior to commencement of play of each hand, an auction is conducted to decide which suit of the four (spades, hearts, diamonds or clubs) will be the trump suit, the cards in the trump suit having more power to win tricks than the cards in any other suit. Also decided is which partnership will be the defense, and which partnership will contract to win a certain number of tricks. A trick includes the play of one card from each player's hand, and the player who plays the most powerful card wins the trick.
In the duplicate form of contract bridge in particular, bidding boxes and convention cards are used to conduct a silent auction in order to avoid any vocal inflections that, in a verbal auction, might give one's partner unauthorized information about the contents of one's hand. One's hand includes 13 of the 52 cards that have been dealt to one, out of the total of 52 cards in the deck. Each of four players is dealt 13 out of 52, or 1/4 of the number of cards in the deck. In duplicate bridge, the cards patterns (or "hands") are dealt and put into a holder called a board. The board keeps each of the four hands from getting mixed up. After a certain number of hands are dealt and played, the boards, as well as the East-West pairs, move from table to table, so that the players, as well as the hands in each board, are played by different partnerships throughout the bridge session. The results, or scores, are compared at the end of the playing period, and whichever pairs had the best results, when the scores from all boards are compared, win the bridge session.
Convention cards are used to fully inform one's opponents of special arrangements (called "conventions") used in the bidding process that precedes each hand of bridge. Conventions are bids whose meaning has been agreed upon in advance by the partnership. The conventions relay information regarding the shape (number of spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs) as well as the strength (number of powerful cards) in one's hand.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a holder for supporting food, beverages, bidding boxes and convention cards which are readily and conveniently accessible to the players but that reduce the possibility of spillage of the food, beverages, bidding cards and convention cards.
Further, it would be desirable for the apparatus to be easily moved from card table to card table. The apparatus should not interfere with storage of the table in its storage position. Additionally, the apparatus should be so structured and configured so as to avoid its coverage of the table top altogether and minimize infringement into the table area and spaces adjacent to the table that are customarily considered to be the space of other players. The apparatus should be flexible enough so that the bidding box and convention card holder may be detached and not used should only food and beverages be required by the players. The apparatus should also have lateral stability so that if it is bumped into, it will resist collapsing or moving laterally. The apparatus should be so structured as to eliminate the possibility that the clamps attaching the apparatus to the table will mar the table leg's finish.
Prior art U.S. patents in the field are: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,962,575; 2,185,907; 3,270,694; 3,881,677; 4,099,470; 4,878,642; 5,070,795; 5,169,108; and, 5,285,991; to Silverman, Alexander, Wallace et al., Ihlenfeld, Cannon, Jr., Kirby, Jr. Redlin et al., Carlson, and Carlson, respectively. Each of these references is hereby incorporated by reference for all disclosed.